


One out of one cat

by apfelmarmelade



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Sefikura week, kinda crackish I guess, no cats have been harmed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-12 00:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13536033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apfelmarmelade/pseuds/apfelmarmelade
Summary: Sephiroth just wanted to spend a relaxing evening. Some weirdo had other ideas.Written for the Sefikura week 2018, even though I just managed to do something for the last day....





	One out of one cat

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to sevenofswrds over on tumblr for a fun few days of throwing around ideas! This only exists because of you!

Sephiroth had just managed to get comfortable after a long and tiring day at work when the doorbell rang. For a moment he debate pretending no one was at home but the blinds were still up and the light was on. Anyone could see the light shining through his windows and would know someone was home. 

So with a heavy sigh and one last regretful glance towards his book he got up and opened the door.

Before him stood a short blond, ruffled hair and wide eyes, a slightly maniac glint in them. He squared his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye before demanding in a slightly pinched sounding voice: “Please make her stop.”

Sephiroth was waiting for more context.

“Make her stop staring through the window. It’s creeping me out.”

The context wasn’t helping yet. But the other wasn’t waiting around for him to ask, he just turned around with enough purpose to dissuade Sephiroth from asking any questions and marched down the floor towards the doors leading to the stairs. Sephiroth watched him leave. He stood in his door a few moments longer. Then he looked around the hallway in front of his apartment door. He wouldn’t put it past some of his friends to pull a prank like that on him. But no one was jumping out behind the only thing big enough to hide a whole human - the potted plant that was slowly dying of not getting enough water. Nothing. So he shrugged and closed the door again. 

That had been weird. Also slightly ominous. A shudder run down his back as he recalled the exact words the young man had said to him. Who was ‘she’? There was certainly no female staring out of his windows. He glanced at the glass to make sure. No. No faces. So he decided to just ignore the whole incidence for the sake of his sanity and returned to the book he had left behind. There was nothing he could do now anyway. And the book was getting to a good part.

\----------

Two weeks had passed since then. He had managed to put the whole meeting out of his mind. Sephiroth was practical like that. Nothing had happened after that, though he had been careful the next day when he left the house. No blond had been lying in wait for him behind any bushes, so he left it at that.

It was another evening that he had been happily planning to spent with cooking and a new book. He was just about to put the pasta into the boiling water when his doorbell rang. He froze. He looked from the pasta to the pot on the stove, to the counter were the package lay open and back to the pasta. The bell rang again. Annoyed, he put the pasta sticks down on the counter maybe a bit too hard, because they took the whole stone surface by storm. But he decided that he wouldn’t care about that right now, that was a problem for later. He would take care of this first. 

When he opened the door, a now familiar face was looking up at him. He stared back. The way the other man’s face was set was causing apprehension to creep in, but at the same time, he was curious what the other would do next.

“I think we might have had a misunderstanding last time.”

Sephiroth thought using past tense here might be a bit optimistic.

“When I said ‘make her stop’ I didn’t mean that literally.”

The blond looked vaguely guilty now. His brows were furrowed and he was fidgeting with the fingers of his right hand. The thumb was running up and down his index finger. It was oddly distracting,he couldn’t tear his gaze away. 

But the other guy didn’t seem to notice and he didn’t get an answer fast enough apparently, because he just charged on: “Is she okay? Could I maybe see her?”

This was probably the part where he was supposed to step in, because the other man looked like he was about to pass him by and enter his apartment. That was not going to happen. Sephiroth moved to take up more space inside the doorframe and crossed his arms. His height and straightened back only added to the imposing picture he knew he made now. The blond man moved back a step.

“Now. If you don’t mind, I want you to go back a few sentences and explain what you want from me.”

The shorter man blinked. He blinked again. Then his eyes narrowed and he took a step forward again.

“Are you trying to play dump?!”

“I’m not playing anything.”

“You are! You are pretending you didn’t murder a poor helpless cat just now!!”

“What the hell are you talking about.”

“She was there! The last three weeks, she was there, and now she isn't! So you must have done something to her!”

“Done something to whom!”

“THE CAT!”

“THERE IS NO CAT HERE.”

“LIAR!! I SAW HER! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT YOU HAVE TO LIE ABOUT HER NOW!!”

“THERE IS NO CAT HERE! I DON'T EVEN LIKE CATS!!” 

There was silence, only broken by the sharp gasp the man in front of him managed. His eyes were big, not angry anymore, but heartbroken. It made him feel terribly guilty for some reason.

“That was a lie. Sorry.”

Lying about not liking cats was the only thing his mind had come up with in the spur of the moment. But weirdly enough, admitting to the lie seemed to calm the other guy down. 

“OK. Alright.” he took a step back. It seemed to help him do the same thing mentally because the fact that he just had a shouting match with a stranger in front of that strangers flat door seemed to finally hit him. He looked like he was blushing, his shoulders hiked up and trying to hide his face from the world. His hands had found a home in his jeans pockets. 

Sephiroth thought it was great they weren't shouting at each other anymore. But now the the blond seemed intent on drawing up the most awkward atmosphere he could. This was ridiculous. 

For a moment he considered saying more, trying to draw the other one out again. Frustrated he ran a hand through his hair, glanced one more time towards his former opponent and finally decided it wasn’t worth the headache right now. He turned around to go back into his apartment. Only when he tried to enter, a hand on his wrist held him back. Sephiroth stopped,stunned.  
His gaze followed the hand up the others arm to his face. It was weird, but he suddenly realized that they had never touched until now. The other had taken several steps forward. They had never been this close before either. 

“I’m sorry. I’ve gone the wrong way about this whole thing it seems. Would you let me explain, please? I would feel bad leaving it at this.”

This was also the first time they were of the same mind. Sephiroth liked that feeling. He liked all of it actually, the touch, the closeness, this feeling. He didn’t want to lose it yet, so he turned around fully and listened as the other man - Cloud, he learned - started explaining.

“There was this cat in the window, your window I thought. And she’s been staring at me for every night the last four weeks, just staring, not moving. I think she was trying to think of a way to eat me….”

\----------

They had been looking for Cloud’s cat for two hours. It turned out there where a lot of cats in this apartment block but none that matched the cat they were looking for. But it was getting close to eleven now and the people they were ringing out of their flats grew less sympathetic by the minute. So they had decided to stop. 

Watching Cloud trying to shrug off the obvious dejection that had overcome him at not finding the cat tugged at Sephiroth's heart strings. He wanted to console him, make him feel better again. He had been starting to appreciate the Cloud that was enthusiastically giving up his time because he worried about a cat that had been creeping him out for two weeks. But they had arrived at his door and he was out of time.

The awkward atmosphere from the beginning was back again for some reason. They had been able to completely starve it before, while on their hunt for the cat. So in an attempt to tune down the pressure, Sephiroth tried his hands at pleasantries.

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to find the cat in the end.”

Cloud’s shoulders dipped down briefly before he sighed and finally looked at him again. 

“It’s fine. Not your fault.It was really nice of you to help either way…especially after the way I treated you…”

Sephiroth saw an in to stretch the conversation a bit longer. 

“Did you actually think that I had killed a cat, just because you were vaguely accusing me of being creepy before?”

The blond man turned red all over. 

“Well, I...I kinda just wanted to make sure the cat was ok….and umm...an excuse to come knocking again at your door? Maybe?”

Sephiroth smiled.

“....I’m making pasta. Do you want to come in?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I can be amused by a lot of dump shit. Combine that with the cat that was creeping me out by staring at me out of the window of my neighbors apartment, extrapolate from there and you get this. Hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing it :) If you do, leave your favorite line in the comments?


End file.
